The healthcare workers told senators that they at times recycle a three-plier mask for one week as the county governments fail to provide them with the essential product while on duty.
Frontline healthcare are forced to fundraise for their colleagues to pay rent, buy food get fare to work, and recycle PPEs while attending to Covid-19 patients, a senate committee heard on Monday.
The House team was also told that the medics are subjected to threats by county governments.
These are some of the harrowing experiences that healthcare workers narrated to the Senate Committee of Health, highlighting the dire situation that they face as they put their lives at risk to save lives.
The healthcare workers told senators that they at times recycle a three-plier mask for one week as the county governments fail to provide them with the essential product while on duty.
In some cases, the healthcare workers attending to patients in isolation wards have no surgical masks and gloves and are times forced to buy the PPEs using their own money. At the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the country’s largest referral health facility, the situation is dire and some nurses have already resigned due to poor working condition.
Stella Githaiga, a nurse at KNH told the committee that some nurses have resigned to go seek for greener pastures in foreign countries.
“We are no longer able to nurse our patients as required. We can’t maintain social distance as required because of the overwhelming numbers we receive,” Ms Githaiga told the committee.
She said there is need to open up other facilities especially the critical centres to cater for the surging positive cases.
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